The man, Mr Martin Mlalazi (54), was in agony for a month after the four metal pieces got stuck on his arms before he was referred to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) for an operation.

Circumstances to the heart-rending incident are that Mr Mlalazi was suffering from undisclosed ailments and decided to visit a traditional healer in an endeavour to get treatment.

“The traditional healer prescribed him to insert two outer races of bearings in each arm. He did this after he smeared soap on the hands and inserted them up to the arms level,’’ said one of the staffers at the UBH who requested anonymity for professional reasons.

The source said soon after inserting the bearings, his hands started swelling leading to the bearings failing to come out.

“He took too long to visit the hospital and the bearings were now cutting deep into the flesh and if he had delayed a bit further, the worst could have happened,’’ said the source.

Prior to coming to UBH, the source said Mr Mlalazi, had desperately tried to remove the bearings by cutting them with a hacksaw and an axe but, however, failed to do so as they are made up of high speed steel, a very strong metal.

The incident, which was the first of its kind at UBH, left doctors in a quandary as they failed to remove the bearings that were now causing Mr Mlalazi’s flesh to rot.

“We had to call engineering specialists from the Bulawayo City Council’s fire and ambulance services department to remove the bearings as  this was  beyond medical expertise ,’’ the source said.

The source further said the BCC engineers had a mammoth task removing the bearings.

“The BCC engineers brought their grinders and painstakingly cut the bearings away and it was really scary,’’ said the source.

 “That man should really thank the BCC guys because they saved him. If it was not them, it’s too ghastly to contemplate what was going to happen because the doctors were clueless as to how to save him.’’

When the Sunday News crew visited the man yesterday he was still in pain.

Efforts to talk to him and get to the bottom of the matter were fruitless as he could hardly speak.

“I am now feeling better,’’ was all he could say before he went back to sleep. By the time this news crew left, none of his relatives had come to visit him.

By Special correspondent

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